Day 2 of the media fast gave me no clear insights, except for one—it seems that the more productive I get on one end, the more others are trying to take it away from me on the other.
To paraphrase Al Pacino, “The more I try to get productive, the more they try to suck me back in to un-productivity.”
Since I was getting my work done so quickly, people in my office started asking me if I could “help” them (do their work for them) or “discuss a few things” (talk about nothing).
These time vampires (to borrow a term from Dan Kennedy) literally sucked all my productive time away.
Well, today I will employ a tactic my 4-year-old uses—the NO tactic.
I have written about it before, and have used it to great success. But it seems that when you start getting more productive, the time vampires smell blood. They figure that since you’re not “busy” you have time for them.
So, I will be cultivating my “busy” image even more. And when people ask me for help, I will use some phrases like:
“I’d love to, but I really have to take care of something right now.”
“I only have a minute because I’m on my way to X. Let me see what I can do now.” –Only at the end of yesterday did I employ this tactic (because it was true). But by forcing people to deal with me right then and there and putting a short time limit on it, those “emergencies” completely disappeared.
Do not and I repeat DO NOT let them say they can talk to you about it later. With the time vampires, if you leave the door open for them to “ask you later” then by gosh they sure will come by and ask you something later.
We’ll see how combining NO tactics with my media fast improves my productivity.
On the LeBron Front
It’s amazing what you can learn from headline news! I heard briefly that there was some trade to help out LeBron.
Now, I wasn’t able to read commentary telling me what to think about this trade. And I don’t even know the details. So, I can’t be so sure if this qualifies as giving LeBron respect.
I mean the media could spin the trade in so many ways so as to show utmost disrespect to LeBron. I’m sure they can. But since I’m not reading it, I don’t know.
I just have to deal with the raw facts of the matter and make up my own mind about what it means. Here goes that critical thinking again.
But with all the stories about the trade I’m sure some joker of a sportscaster will talk about how LeBron has “no more excuses” or use some other term that shows disrespect to LeBron. So, I’ll hedge my best and say they are still disrespecting him.
The protest continues…
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Categories: Eliminating Clutter, Problem-solving/Critical Thinking, Productivity, Simplify Your Life, Time Management
Tags: critical thinking, Lebron James, productive time, Productivity, time limit, Time Management, time vampires
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